COPAA and partners in the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) have sent a letter to Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Representative Erin Houchin (R-IN) to raise concerns and express opposition to the 21st Century Dyslexia Act (S.3010/H.R. 5769) as currently written. The issues raised range from consternation with the timing of a bill that proposes to amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) “when oversight and accountability for the nation’s core law that protects students with disabilities is under threat”, along with specific issues regarding the bill’s proposal to add back a mandate for states to use the IQ-discrepancy model as part of a Dyslexia evaluation. While COPAA and allies absolutely share the bill sponsors’ goal -to ensure all students suspected of having Dyslexia are provided early screening, intervention, education services, and eligibility under IDEA as soon as possible- the advocates also told Congress, “[the bill] specifies the IQ-discrepancy diagnostic or ‘severe discrepancy’ model which IDEA already allows…[and] due to years of research and practice –showing that this model lacked both validity and reliability in determining the existence of an SLD, including dyslexia– and, with bipartisan agreement in 2004, Congress eliminated the sole requirement to use this model when evaluating a student suspected of having an SLD.” The letter points out that due to IDEA’s current flexibility, eleven states have eliminated the requirement for districts to use IQ achievement discrepancy and 39 states still allow it. COPAA’s federal policy advisor, Laura Kaloi, who has firsthand experience as a parent with the use of IQ-discrepancy to determine Dyslexia, has written a blog about the need to prevent this particular change to IDEA.